Greetings From EUREKA!

We have been given another year in which to grow in understanding and an appreciation for all that is good in our lives. In musing about years gone by, I remembered that many of our Site-Coordinators today are new or relatively new EUREKA Users. As such, you may not be aware of our history. The following is a summary of our beginnings.

EUREKA was founded as a California non-profit organization in 1977 by a group of high school and community college counselors in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our founders were called the Bay Area Computer Educators (BACE).

BACE wanted to provide better career and college advising services to their students, and decided the computer would be the ideal delivery mode. In 1977, the computer was in its infancy and not widely used in typical educational environments, to them the computer appeared to be an ideal mode of delivery.

BACE researched and found a software program that would meet their needs. The program was being developed at the University of Oregon. An agreement was negotiated, and the program was brought to California.

The group began by replacing the Oregon information with California information. All of the work was done by volunteers, Contra Costa and Diablo Valley Community Colleges provided free computer support.

Initially, only schools where BACE members worked received the EUREKA service. As other districts became aware of the program, they also wanted access for their students. The program was becoming too much for the volunteer staff to handle. As a result, the first paid staff was hired in 1979.

EUREKA.org, the online version, was launched in 2003.

EUREKA continues to be California-oriented. However, now we also offer Colorado, Texas and National versions of EUREKA.org. We remain a non-profit organization whose philosophy is driven by service as opposed to profit-making.

Let’s make this year the year of greater service!

With warm regards,

Sumyyah Bilal
Executive Director
EUREKA, CCIS